I keep waiting and waiting but they still haven't come out with my lovely special edition DVD of the Pippi movies. The original Swedish ones, of course, with the dubbing that, quite honestly, I find very charming.

Mind you, one of them is available on VHS and DVD. In freaking German. Me dumb American who took French in school, so this doesn't help me much.

I do have copies at my parents' house that were taped off one of the local UHF channel's Saturday afternoon matinee shows for four weekends running. In 1982. I will definitely steal those the next time I go home, but I really want the movies in a more permanent form (mmm...DVD) as well.

You see, the 20-year old VHS tapes being sold on ebay are just not good enough for me.

D-V-D!

D-V-D!

MAX-I-MUS!

MAX-I-MUS!

I just love those movies so much. Pippi rolling dough out over her entire kitchen floor and making hundreds of fancy Christmas cookies. Pippi inventing both a flying bed and a flying car. Tommy and Annika in their plain-colored Garanimal-esque shirts and pants. Pippi walking the tight rope and teaching Tommy and Annika how to busk while wearing burlap sacks. The pirates! Especially when Pippi's father is being held prisoner and Pippi, Tommy, and Annika have to hide in a well to keep from being caught. And she smuggles huge chicken legs from the pirates' fire down the well with them to eat, and you just know that those are the tastiest chicken legs ever. Meanwhile Pippi's father (quite fat and obviously deeply attached to his noshies) is breaking down at the threat of only being given bread and water to eat.

For years, the only way I could make myself stay in the bathroom to wash my hands while the scary, scary toilet was flushing was to sing the Pippi Longstocking song for courage. Quite loudly.

Not to be morbid, but since Astrid Lindgren recently died, surely there will be a resurgence in all Pippi-related paraphenalia, yes? And really, what is the point of globalization and all nations becoming one world village if treasures like these aren't going to become readily available?